August 1996

FAIRFAX, Va.-American Management Systems, a business and information technology consulting firm, announced an $8.5 million agreement to develop a comprehensive customer care and billing platform to support Canadian-based Microcell Telecommunications …

NEW YORK-Sprint Spectrum L.P. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Sprint Spectrum Finance Corp., sold a $523 million note issue Tuesday, the same day the Federal Reserve Board said it wouldn’t …

WALTHAM, Mass.-Lightbridge Inc. and Trans Union announced a strategic alliance that will equip the wireless industry with a fraud detection tool designed to reduce the risk of activating potentially fraudulent …

WASHINGTON – The Democratic platform of the party’s national convention this week in Chicago will stress technology and applaud the historic enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as well …

From day one, the demand for Personal Handyphone System service in Japan has astounded the world of telecommunications. After only a year in the marketplace, PHS now claims more than …

Of late, the move from corporate executive to born again entrepreneur is not uncommon in wireless. But still it comes as a surprise Alex Mandl would leave his post as …

MOUNTAIN LAKES, N.J.-Personal communications services operator Omnipoint Communications Inc. has chosen Paoli, Penn.-based Orga Card Systems to supply subscriber identity modules, or smart cards. Under the terms of the agreement …

WASHINGTON-Sometime this week, the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff’s Department should be able to use most capabilities of an $18 million Enhanced Digital Access Communications Systems radio system being installed by …

DALLAS-DFW Communications announced it has purchased Motorola Inc.’s four Dallas/Fort Worth-based two-way radio service centers. The purchase is a result of Motorola’s 1995 restructuring of its National Service Division, which …

NEW YORK-In what is believed to be the first and only such endeavor to date, Working Assets this summer introduced an affinity program in which it donates a percentage of …

WESTWOOD, Mass.-Cellular One in Boston has launched a no-credit-required calling card service that allows cellular phone users to pay in advance for airtime. With the prepaid calling card, customers establish …

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla.-Motorola Inc. announced the winners of its second annual pager design competition for college student designers. The enormous growth in pager use by children and teenagers prompted Motorola …

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission denied all arguments and affirmed its decision to charge Centel Cellular Co. of North Carolina with “endanger[ing] public safety for a period of five …

NEW YORK-Investors who want up-to-the-minute financial information beamed directly to them will benefit from two recently introduced products from PageMart Wireless Inc., Dallas, and Wireless Financial Services Inc., New York. …

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.-Computer Sciences Corp. announced it has signed a five-year, multimillion dollar contract to provide billing and customer care services to personal communications services provider Omnipoint Communications Inc. Under …

Sales strategy in the cellular business is beginning to hint of mass marketing auto-dealer style. “Free phone with activation!” is about as persuasive as, “One-thousand dollars cash back when you …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission apparently has come up with a winning plan to expand its current rules regarding partitioning and spectrum disaggregation by commercial mobile services licensees. Many current personal …

CHICAGO-CenterPoint Properties Corp., a publicly traded real estate investment trust, announced it has reached an agreement with AT&T Wireless Services Inc. to grant the cellular company a master lease covering …

WASHINGTON-Democrats will meet this week in Chicago to launch President Clinton’s re-election campaign and try to take away the bounce that the Republican national conventional gave to the Dole-Kemp ticket …

Laws and fairness in Poland’s wireless sector are a hot topic this month, as three separate authorities investigate current business practices. A Polish news publication reported the Anti-Monopoly Office in …

WASHINGTON-With the final report outlining public-safety spectrum needs through 2010 due Sept. 11, members of the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee continue to debate from which source extra channels can …

ZK Celltest Inc. announced narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service measurement capability on the ZK-SAM/DX, a system access monitor. The company said the device interfaces with Motorola Inc.’s MicroTac dual-mode NAMPS …

BETHESDA, Md.-Comsat Personal Communications made a phone call from Malaysia to Germany last week with the Planet 1 phone, using the Inmarsat-3 satellite operating over the Indian Ocean. Comsat developed …

WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission continues to mull the fate of the Phoenix license won by CH PCS Inc. during last month’s re-auction of 18 C-block personal communications services licenses; the …

Preferred Networks Inc. said it has signed an agreement with NationsBank for a $20 million revolving credit facility. The money will be used primarily to finance the acquisition of paging …